Understanding the occurrence and movement of toxic chemicals and biological materials including microorganisms through liquid (e.g., aqueous) environments is essential for effective risk assessment and the protection of human health and the environment. The disclosed technology represents a major advance in environmental monitoring by enabling the cost-effective and ultra-sensitive detection of environmental contaminants of chemical and biological nature in natural and engineered waters.
As published in WO2009/105241, Halden, the inventor here, previously disclosed methods and kits for collection of dry samples from fluids such as ground, surface and tap water. Devices include a casing including a water intake zone wherein the casing encloses, a fluid reservoir, a pump, a non-aqueous collection matrix cartridge, and a waste water conduit, wherein the water intake zone, the fluid reservoir, the pump, the non-aqueous collection matrix cartridge, and the waste water conduit are all operably linked in sequence. However, that device required a multicompartment reservoir for collection of groundwater between the water intake zone and a pump.
The present disclosure represents an improvement over existing technologies by reducing to practice the concentration of chemical and biological contaminants from large-volume aqueous samples on low-volume extraction media that are integrated into field-deployable sampling devices for long-term, parallel sampling. As a further advance, there is no requirement for a multicompartment reservoir since, in some useful embodiments, the samples are concentrated and extracted into environmental/extraction cartridges.